58 
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
obliged to dispose of it in parts.” The Smithsonian fire of 1865 
destroyed the entire collection, with the exception of four or five 
pictures which had been hung in the east wing of the building. 
In most of the annual reports of the Institution from 1852 to 
1865, the Stanley collection is referred to, in connection with the 
gallery of art or otherwise. The following extract is from the 
report of Secretary Henry for 1852: 
“One of the original propositions of the programme is that of 
encouraging art, by providing a suitable room for the exhibition 
of pictures free of expense to the artist. In accordance with 
this, the large room in the west wing will be devoted to this pur- 
pose. It now contains a very interesting series of portraits, 
mostly full-size, of one hundred and fifty-two North American 
Indians, with sketches of the scenery of the country they in- 
habit, deposited by the artist who painted them, Mr. J. M. 
Stanley. These portraits were all taken from life, and are accu- 
rate representations of the peculiar features of prominent indi- 
viduals of forty-three different tribes, inhabiting the south- 
western prairies, New Mexico, California, and Oregon. The 
faithfulness of the likenesses has been attested by a number of 
intelligent persons who have visited the gallery, and have im- 
mediately recognised among the portraits those of the individ- 
uals with whom they have been personally acquainted. The 
author devoted to the work of obtaining these pictures ten years 
of his life, and perseveringly devoted himself to his task in the 
face of difficulties and dangers which enthusiasm in the pursuit 
could alone enable him to encounter. The Institution has pub- 
lished a descriptive catalogue of these portraits, which are of 
interest to the ethnologist as representatives of the peculiar 
physiognomy, as well as many of the customs, of the natives of 
this continent.” 
On January 28, 1858, Mr. Stanley addressed the Board of 
Regents as follows : 
Gentlemen : The undersigned offers for sale, and respectfully suggests 
to your honorable Board the propriety of purchasing, the gallery of Indian 
portraits now, and for some years past, in the Smithsonian Institution. 
He proposes to sell the whole collection described in the catalogue pub- 
lished by the institution, one hundred and fifty -two in number, for the sum 
of twelve thousand dollars — one-third of the same cash and the remainder 
